Revelation 1:17-19
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
17 When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead.[a] He touched me with his right hand and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last,(A) 18 the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.[b] 19 Write down, therefore, what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards.[c]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1:17 It was an Old Testament belief that for sinful human beings to see God was to die; cf. Ex 19:21; 33:20; Jgs 6:22–23; Is 6:5.
- 1:18 Netherworld: Greek Hades, Hebrew Sheol, the abode of the dead; cf. Rev 20:13–14; Nm 16:33.
- 1:19 What you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards: the three parts of the Book of Revelation, the vision (Rev 1:10–20), the situation in the seven churches (Rev 2–3), and the events of Rev 6–22.
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